Becton, Dickson earnings decline, while revenue increase

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Becton, Dickson & Co.
BDX, +0.16%
said fiscal first-quarter earnings fell to $142.9 million, or 56 cents a share, from $217.9 million, or 85 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding non-recurring items, earnings for the quarter ending December would have been 96 cents a share. Revenue rose 7.7% to $1.5 billion from last year's $1.39 billion, with sales from its medical business increasing 10%, from its diagnostics business growing 2% and from its biosciences business rising 11%. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had been expecting earnings of 92 cents a share and revenue of $1.5 billion, on average. For fiscal 2007, the Franklin Lakes, N.J. medical technology company expects earnings, excluding non-recurring items, of $3.71 to $3.77 a share, vs. analyst forecasts of $3.71. The stock closed Wednesday up $1.24 at $75.15.

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